Pesto stared in fear at the psychotically grinning Yakko, who was looking him up and down. He poked at his plump stomach and snickered.
"Oh yes, you'll do just fine for harvesting." Yakko said, "I've been looking for a new toon specimen for a while now. It's so nice of you to just fall in my lap like this!"
Pesto wheezed, trying to breathe under Yakko's tight grip, "H-hey...! I um... I'm just...! A regular pigeon! Yeah yeah...! Um... Coo! Coo! No toon here-! ACK!"
Yakko squeezed Pesto hard enough to make his eyes bug out. He coughed and squirmed, trying desperately to get out.
"I do have one question..." Yakko brought the pigeon up to eye level, staring him down hard, "Just how did you get in here? That door is solid anti-toon material. And you somehow got in here without me noticing?"
"Well I uh..." Pesto spoke once Yakko had finally let up with the squeezing, "I um... I... Followed your sister?"
Yakko snarled, "Of course. She said you were chasing her. And she didn't even lose the likes of you?"
Pesto snarled back, "What's that supposed to mean?! You sayin' I can't chase a ghost girl good enough?! Is that what you're saying-?! HHAK!"
"Shaddup." Growled Yakko, squeezing the pigeon hard, "I'm too busy to deal with you, so I hope you don't mind joining your pals here for uhhh... A long, long time."
Yakko, with the pigeon in hand, went over to Bobby and Squit's cage. What little feathers the two had left were ruffled to maximum height, making them appear much larger than they actually were. Both made a strange noise that sounding like a cross between a hiss and a coo. They kept their eyes trained on Yakko as he approached, taking a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door.
"I'm sure you've missed each other, haven't you?" Yakko asked Pesto mockingly, "Well, I'm happy to let you spend the rest of your lives together. Aren't I such a good captor?"
As Yakko opened the door to put Pesto in, Bobby and Squit roared and charged directly at Yakko's face. Bobby used his claws while Squit used his crystal wings to slash at the elder Warner's face. He screeched in surprise and dropped Pesto in order to swat at the attacking pigeons.
"Why you little rats!" Yakko snarled, swatting at Bobby. Bobby avoided it while grabbing the goggles resting on Yakko's forehead. He stretched them out several feet from Yakko's face before letting go. The goggles snapped back and hit Yakko square in the face, causing him to fall backwards with a thud.
While Yakko was briefly stunned, Bobby turned to Pesto with a grave expression, "Go! Get out of here!"
"But you guys-!" Pesto insisted.
"Go Pesto!" Squit interrupted him, "Get out! We'll be fine!"
Bobby and Squit turned back to Yakko before shouting at the top of their lungs, "FOR GOODFEATHERS!" They jumped back on Yakko, scratching and slicing at him while he desperately tried to swat them away and get up. The other imprisoned toons cheered for them.
Pesto hesitated for a moment before he turned and flew away to the open door. Once he was out, he made a mad dash to the end of the corridor. From behind him, he heard Bobby and Squit let out an ear piercing scream. He hesitated again, worrying deeply for them. However, his hesitation quickly went away when the door swung open. Yakko stood there, his enraged face covered in scratches and gashes. In his hand he held a yellow and red laser gun, distinctly marked "PUN GUN" in bright blue letters. The gun was still smoking, the smell of burnt feathers wafted from the room behind him. He was fuming as his gaze locked firmly on to the escaped pigeon.
"Ohh when I get my hands on you, I'll make sure it hertz!" He snarled, taking aim with the Pun Gun.
Pesto shrieked and flew in a zig zag pattern. Beams of high powered electricity rocketed past him, narrowly missing his wing tips. Up ahead, the other Warner brother walked into view, looking confused at the sight.
"Wakko!" Yakko called, "Stop that bird!"
Wakko perked up and stared down Pesto. He got into an attack stance as Pesto flew straight towards him. Pesto closed his eyes and gave a battle cry as he flapped his wings harder. At the last minute, he veered off to the left, causing Wakko to jump at him. He caught his tail feathers and pulled a couple out, but Pesto managed to evade his grasp. He took off down the corridor with the movie props with the Warner kids right behind him.
Pesto dared to look back. The eerie blue glow from the blue crystals growing out of Wakko lit up the corridor. Yakko took aim again, giving a crazed laugh as he did.
"I LOVE IT when they run!" He cackled, firing off a flurry of electrical barrages at the escaping pigeon. Pesto flew erratically to avoid them, but one caught the edge of his wings, blasting off his primary flight feathers and causing him to fall forward. He managed to make it through the rusted out steam train replica before he fell to the ground. The train had no easy way for the larger Warners to get through, so it slowed them down considerably.
Pesto winced as he now ran down the corridor on foot. His wing was burning with pain. The flight feathers were gone. He wouldn't be able to fly until they healed.
"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!" Yakko screamed, further away this time.
Pesto didn't dare to look back as he sped up. He reached the ladder and was hit with a crushing realization; he needed both wings if he was going to climb the ladder and get out. Hearing Wakko's frenzied barks and Yakko's maniacal yelling pushed him to climb the ladder anyways, despite his injured wing. It was excruciating every time he pulled himself up with that wing, but he wasn't going to be caught by the Warner kids.
Nearing the end of his pain threshold, Pesto reached the top of the ladder and pushed the trap door open with his good wing. Squeezing out of it, he darted underneath the crate obscuring it and sprinted out of the sound stage as fast as his legs would let him. He heard the trap door and crate slam behind him just as he turned a corner and hid in a bush nearby the sound stage.
"He couldn't have gone far!" He heard Yakko shout, "Find him! Find him find him FIND HIM!"
"Don't worry!" Wakko replied, "I'll sniff him out!"
Pesto panicked and started burying himself in the dirt in hopes it would mask his scent. He heard the two coming closer. Through a gap in the bushes, he saw Wakko approaching him, his nose to the ground. Like the imprisoned toons, he also had blue ore growing out of his body, though his was considerably less messy and painful looking. The stones created an eerie blue glow around him, making Pesto shiver with fear.
Wakko came closer, his sniffing growing louder. He stopped right in front of the bush and seemed to stare directly at Pesto. However, he seemed to have caught a whiff of something else in the other direction. He turned and barked loudly, getting his brother's attention.
"What is it?!" Yakko demanded, running to his side, "What did you find?!"
Wakko continued to bark and ran off. His brother followed, leaving Pesto alone. The pigeon slowly pulled himself out of the dirt and hobbled off in the opposite direction, his wing still throbbing in pain. Thank goodness there was a side gate out of the studio nearby. He quickly escaped the studio and didn't stop running until he was at least a mile away. Eventually, the pain and exhaustion got the better of him, as he collapsed on the sidewalk and passed out.
The following day, Hello Nurse had gone out for a walk. After her strange encounter with the eldest Warner brother, she had tried to call Scratchansniff about what she discovered. However, every time she tried, he didn't pick up. After trying a few more times and even going back to the studio, she had been unable to contact the studio psychiatrist. Eventually, she gave up and went back to her hotel room, where she studied the pictures she had taken of Nora's damaged car. Nothing came of it however except more questions, so she simply decided to sleep her worries away for the time being.
The investigation into the half-toons seemed to have come to a halt. She had no idea where Scratchansniff had gone, nor did she have Dr. Magenta's phone number. Of course, she could always continue the detective work on her own, but it would be difficult without help.
Tired and confused, Hello Nurse decided to take a walk early that morning to clear her head. It was cloudy, appearing as if it might rain later. The California air was stifling hot. Not many people were out and about this early in the morning. Up ahead, she saw a lump of... Something. It looked like a piece of burnt trash. Getting closer, she saw it was an animal of some kind, perhaps road kill from the previous night.
Wait a minute... I recognize that animal!
She jogged to the lump and turned it over with her foot. It was a partially burnt Pesto with half of his feathers missing on his wing. Hello Nurse gasped and immediately picked him up, earning an odd look from a passing biker.
"Pesto? Pesto!" She shouted at the passed out bird, "Pesto! Speak to me!"
Pesto groaned, shielding his face with his good wing, "Leave me alone to die..."
"PESTO!"
Pesto shrieked and nearly fell out of Hello Nurse's grasp. He looked up at her and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank the Godpigeon, it's just you!"
"Pesto, what in the world happened to you?" Hello Nurse asked, clearly worried for him.
Pesto shuddered, "Ohh boy. You might wanna take a seat. This is gonna be a long story."
Hello Nurse took the pigeon and sat down at a nearby bench. As Pesto began explaining what happened, Hello Nurse took some first aid items from her bag and began cleaning and bandaging his wound. Pesto went on about everything, telling her all about the attack at Acme Labs, the ghost girl who turned out to be Dot Warner, the Warner kids and the strange deal with the money, the underground lair, and finally, the imprisoned toons. Pesto was clearly distraught as he went into detail about Bobby and Squit, and how they heroically saved him from Yakko's clutches.
"And that's how my wing got busted." Pesto concluded, "That maniac shot at me with a laser!"
"So I was right to suspect Yakko." Hello Nurse said, trying to process all that Pesto had told her, "Goodness Pesto, you're lucky you got out of there."
Pesto nodded, "I almost didn't. Good thing you found me here."
"There's no denying it," Hello Nurse continued, standing up and carrying the pigeon in her arms, "The Warners are most certainly responsible for the half-toons. Or at the very least, those strange blue crystals." She seemed disappointed and sad, "But what would drive them to mistreat their fellow toons so horribly?"
Pesto shrugged, looking as clueless as her.
Hello Nurse thought for a moment before speaking again, "We need to find out more. First, let's look for Scratchansniff and Dr. Magenta."
"Let's check out Acme Labs." Pesto suggested, "Maybe those nerds are still there!"
"Good idea." Hello Nurse agreed as she walked briskly with the pigeon in her arms. They finally had a massive lead. All they needed to do now was put a plan into action.